Sorry, But It’s Time: Stan Must Die on ‘The Americans’

FBI agent Stan Beeman, wonderfully portrayed by Noah Emmerich, has been one of the most magnetic characters on all 4 seasons of FX’s The Americans. And now it’s time for him to go.

The excitement of having an FBI agent live across the street from our main characters and Russian spies, Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell), has been a brilliant device to deliver tension since the show’s very first episode. The fact that Stan’s got the KGB right under his nose and doesn’t even realize it is a fun fact the audience delights in knowing. Coming over for what seems like a normal family dinner with the enemies! This guy is really going to kick himself when he finds out the truth. And that time needs to be soon.

What started as “heart attack” moments have turned into “Oh hell no” moments while watching this show. Sniffing around the trunk of Phillip’s car would make your heart race, but now following Martha (Alison Wright) makes our blood boil. You leave poor helpless Martha alone, Stan, even though your instinct is totally accurate.

Stan is getting too close for comfort, for the viewers and the Jennings’. While they are currently dealing with getting rid of Pastor Tim and his wife, Stan will be next on the list. Physically threatening Phillip for hanging out with his ex-wife Sandra after EST meetings is not ok. Then offering Phillip’s teenage son Henry dating advice and cologne? Also not cool, Stan. And now that he’s on to Martha, Phillip’s wife while he’s undercover as Clark? Phillip is the bull’s eye of Stan’s dart board, and while he doesn’t even know it yet, his darts are getting way too close to the center.

While Stan was important to the storytelling of the show, and a great device for upping the tension, he’s tiptoeing over the line now. Plus, with his former love Nina (Annet Mahendru) not coming back to the US anytime soon, this dude’s got nothing to live for.

He’s too much of a threat for discovering who Phillip and Elizabeth truly are. They’re already mad about him shoving Phillip in the garage (not to mention, practically discovering the bio weapon tucked into Phillip’s jacket pocket at the time), once they find out he’s acting as a stand-in father to their son and investigating Martha? They’ll have no problem getting rid of him.

This show is never one to back away from raising the stakes, and this will be a big one. This character is too good at his job and on The Americans, we all know what that means. Stan, and more importantly, Noah Emmerich, will be greatly missed from the show. We can’t wait to see what he does next, but it certainly won’t be discovering who Phillip and Elizabeth really are.